The Guardian (February 24)
“The west stood back and watched in Syria – it must not do the same in Ukraine…. It’s time for the US and its allies to show their steel in the face of Putin’s aggression. We have learned that nothing else will work.”
Tags: Aggression, Allies, Putin, Steel, Stood back, Syria, U.S., Ukraine, Watched, West
The Hill (November 18)
“Next year, the number of Venezuelans fleeing their country will overtake the Syrian exodus. To date, more than 4 million have left. One-third of these refugees and migrants are sheltering in Colombia, which has maintained a very generous open-door policy,” but is showing signs of being overwhelmed. Colombia “indeed appears headed towards a tipping point. Such an outcome would exacerbate the regional humanitarian crisis triggered by Venezuela’s collapse.”
Tags: Collapse, Colombia, Exodus, Fleeing, Generous, Humanitarian crisis, Migrants, Overwhelmed, Refugees, Sheltering, Syria, Tipping point, Venezuela
Wall Street Journal (October 12)
“President Trump prides himself on one-on-one diplomacy, but too often it results in rash and damaging decisions like his abrupt order Sunday for U.S. troops to retreat from northern Syria. Turkish strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan is now dictating terms to the American President, and the consequences are likely to be felt far beyond Syria and Turkey.”
Tags: Abrupt, Damaging, Decisions, Diplomacy, Erdogan, Pride, Rash, Retreat, Syria, Troops, Trump, Turkey, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (October 8)
Trump is deserting the Kurds who helped defeat ISIS. “On Sunday, the White House announced that American forces will cede the area to Turkish troops. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is now free to wage war on Syria’s Kurds, who were America’s most important allies against ISIS.” The retreat from Syria “will also signal to U.S. allies that the White House can’t be trusted.”
Wall Street Journal (January 18)
“The Trump Administration says Islamic State has been defeated, and it is moving ahead with its withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria and reducing America’s antiterror commitments in Africa,” but the “world’s terrorists don’t seem to have received this news that they’ve been defeated, as a spate of recent attacks around the globe shows.”
Tags: Africa, Attacks, Commitments, Defeated, Islamic State, Syria, Terrorists, Trump, U.S. forces, Withdrawal
PBS News Hour (April 15)
President Trump is now “trying to confront a dilemma that haunted his predecessor, Barack Obama. Syria’s seven-year civil war presents few fast or easy solutions for the U.S., yet the geopolitical rivalries at play, the presence of the Islamic State group and other extremists, and the atrocities perpetrated by the Assad government make the situation impossible to ignore.”
Tags: Assad, Atrocities, Civil war, Confront, Dilemma, Extremists, Geopolitical, Islamic State, Obama, Rivalries, Solutions, Syria, Trump, U.S.
Dallas Morning News (April 15)
“We’ll give President Donald Trump this: The coordinated strikes over the weekend that apparently destroyed the heart of Syria’s chemical weapons program were a serious, disciplined and appropriate response to a regime seemingly bent on using such weapons against its own people.” We now hope he’ll “now offer a clear plan for what’s next” in Syria.
Tags: Appropriate, Chemical weapons, Destroyed, Disciplined, Plan, Strikes, Syria, Trump, Weapons
Chicago Tribune (April 8)
“The defiant outsider presidency of Donald Trump could go its own peculiar path for only so long before a crisis intervened, presenting a sudden test of competence. That moment happened when the Syrian government unleashed a poison gas attack on its own people. Trump passed this first test, we’re relieved to report.”
Tags: Competence, Crisis, Defiant, Outsider, Poison gas, Syria, Test, Trump
Reuters (December 20)
“As soon as he’s inaugurated on Jan. 20, Trump will face a crucial decision: Will he continue the Pentagon’s support and training for the coalition of Syrian rebel groups which is leading a ground offensive to oust Islamic State?” While “the fledgling Trump administration wants to avoid becoming mired in Syria’s complicated war, and has signaled that it wants Russia to continue taking the lead… other powers might try to drag Washington deeper into the conflict, or use it to project strength, or to distract Trump from other goals, such as his insistence on dismantling the Iran nuclear deal.”
Tags: Coalition, Conflict, Decision, Iran, Islamic State, Nuclear deal, Pentagon, Rebel, Russia, Syria, Trump, War
Reuters (December 13)
“In time, Syria may be seen to define the early 21st century the way the Spanish Civil War did the 1930s – a perfect storm of all the worst trends in global politics and conflict. If it is, then Aleppo will be its Guernica, the Spanish town carpet bombed by Nazi aircraft in 1937 in a savage precursor to the horrors of the coming World War Two.
Tags: Aleppo, Carpet bombed, Conflict, Global politics, Guernica, Nazi, Perfect storm, Spanish Civil War, Syria, Worst trends, WWII
